Probing mixing of photons and axion-like particles by geometric phase

TL;DR

This paper proposes that the mixing of photons with axion-like particles induces a measurable geometric phase, which can be used as a novel experimental tool to detect ALPs and study their properties.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of a geometric phase in photon-ALP mixing and suggests an interferometric method for its laboratory detection.

Findings

Geometric phase depends on ALP mass and coupling constant

Proposes an interferometric experiment to measure the phase

Potential to detect ALPs through geometric phase measurement

Abstract

We find that a geometric phase characterizes the phenomenon of mixing of photons with axion-like particles (ALPs). The laboratory observation of such a phase may provide a novel tool able to detect such a mixing phenomenon. We show that the geometric phase is dependent on the axion-like particle mass and coupling constant. We discuss an interferometric experiment able to detect the geometric phase associated to the ALPs-photon mixing.